European, Transnational and Global Governance

The research area ‘European, Transnational and Global Governance’ focusses on the mechanisms, processes and agents of governance at global and regional level. Its activities bridge the other Programme’s research themes that concentrate more on specific global public goods, notably, trade, investment, development, cultural pluralism and Europe’s role in the world. It is based on the understanding that there has been a serial increase in the number of actors engaging in governance beyond state borders; for example, there are some 60,000 NGO’s operating in the international system. Moreover, there are many different modes of governance at the regional and global levels, including state led forms of transnational governance, governance and regulation, produced by non-state actors and a multiplicity of regime complexes involving both public and private actors.

This research area draws on the experiences of Europe and other regional and international organisations to analyse negotiation dynamics, power and asymmetrical relations, the institutionalisation of co-operation, the role of law and norms, issues of regulation and compliance, differences across policy fields and regions of the world. Attention is paid to the questions of design, effects and compliance of different modes of governance. It also addresses issues pertaining the legitimacy, efficiency and accountability of the evolving modes of governance which are weakly rooted in democratic politics within states.

European Transnational Governance

The European Union (EU) has evolved into the most institutionalised and legally bounded system of governance above the level of the state. The depth and range of its policy reach, central institutions, and the constitutionalisation of its treaties have transformed the original communities into a distinctive compound polity. The EU represents an intensive site of transnational governance unmatched in other regions in the world. Europe has unparalleled experience as a laboratory of transnational governance and cooperation. The focus here is on ‘Europe as Laboratory’, that is the core dynamics of European integration and the governance modes that it has fostered. However, although lessons may be drawn from the European experience, they cannot be exported unchanged to other parts of the world, hence the related theme, within this area, on comparative regional integration.

Comparative Regional Integration

The research team of the European, Transnational and Global Governance area analyses one of the most noteworthy forms of transnational governance that confronts globalisation, notably, the creation and reactivation of regional organisations. Trade and economic motivations inspire the creation of regional groupings, but other issues, such as security and even social cohesion are often articulated as rationales for this trend. In trade terms, regional integration raises the issue of the compatibility between the global and the regional. The universe of existing regional organisations is explored with a comparative focus and particular attention is paid to the question of institutional design. The area aims to address questions on what inspires the selection of specific institutional architectures and on the effects of such choices in terms of compliance, efficiency, legitimacy and democratic accountability. Organs such as regional Courts, parliaments, secretariats are analysed in a comparative manner, as well as forms of regional citizenship or domestic constitutional openings to regional processes.

Given the immediate relevance of ‘good’ governance to the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the project maps the political economy of governance and state capacity measures by systematically analysing who rates state capacity and governance where, how, what for, and by whom it is funded… read more

The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) is a research and training institute of the United Nations University. UNU-CRIS focuses on the study of regions, regional organisations, global and regional governance, processes of regional integration and cooperation, and their implications.

The mission of UNU-CRIS is to contribute to a better understanding of intra- and interregional integration through comparative and interdisciplinary research and training. The aim is to act as a think tank that generates policy-relevant knowledge about new forms of global and regional governance and cooperation, and to contribute to capacity building issues of integration and cooperation, particularly in developing countries.

The School of Global Studies (SGS) at the University of Gothenburg was formed in 2005. It is the first of its kind in Sweden and follows an international trend to study global issues and globalization from a combination of disciplines and scientific perspectives, such as peace and development research, environmental social science and human ecology, social anthropology, regional and area studies (Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Middle East), and human rights. The research group on comparative regionalism and regional integration is particularly active in various international research networks and publishes frequently with international publishing houses and in acclaimed peer review journals.

GLOBERNANCE. The Institute for Democratic Governance.(Based in The House of Peace and Human Rights. Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain)

The Institute for Democratic Governance is a centre for reflection, research and dissemination of knowledge. Its objective is to research and educate in the field of democratic governance in order to renew the political thought of our day. It performs a range of research activities, such as congresses, courses and conferences on the idea of governance in its multiple dimensions.